1 For I decided this for myself: I would not make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you sorrow, who is there to make me glad except the one I have grieved? 3 I wrote this very thing so that when I came I would not be grieved by those who ought to make me glad. I was confident of you all that my joy is the joy of all of you. 4 For I wrote to you out of great affliction and anguish of heart, with many tears, not to cause you sorrow, but to let you know the abundant love I have for you.

5 If anyone has caused sorrow, he has grieved not me, but, to some extent—to avoid overstating it—all of you. 6 This punishment imposed by the majority is enough for such a person. 7 So instead you should forgive and comfort him, so that he is not swallowed up by excessive sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For I also wrote to put you to the test and find out whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone you forgive, I forgive too. For what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that Satan may not take advantage of us, for we are not unaware of his schemes.

12 When I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, even though a door had been opened for me in the Lord, 13 I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus my brother. So I said farewell to them and left for Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us makes the fragrance of the knowledge of him known everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: 16 to the one, a fragrance from death to death; to the other, a fragrance from life to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not like the many who peddle the word of God. Instead, we speak in Christ with sincerity, as from God and in the sight of God.